


True Confessions

by Plumetta



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-02-11 13:26:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2069931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plumetta/pseuds/Plumetta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my AU where the 75th Games went wrong and Katniss and Peeta died.  Haymitch returned to 12 and moved Mrs. Everdeen and Prim into his house.  This is shortly after they moved in but he admits some feelings he had for another woman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	True Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own anything the universe belongs to Suzanne Collins.

Calla and Prim had been living in Haymitch’s house for about a month. The last four nights he woke them up with his screaming. He drank himself unconscious today. Calla was walking past his room and she heard him crying and mumbling a name over and over again. She let herself into his bedroom, checked that the knife was out of his hand and gently shook him awake. He was startled and pushed her across the room. She banged her head against the wall.

Prim came running down the hall when she heard the noise. “Mom! Are you okay?

Haymitch recognized Prim’s voice. “What the hell are the two of you doing in my room?

“You were having a nightmare.” Calla said.

“I have nightmares every time I fall asleep. I told you not to touch me. Ever. Get the hell out of my room.

“Prim go back to bed.” Calla said firmly.

“Mom, I want to make sure you’re okay.

“I’m fine. Go to bed. I need to talk to Haymitch.

Prim glared at him but obeyed her mother.

Haymitch sighed. “What do we have to talk about?

“Effie Trinket.”

Haymitch’s eyes turned to ice. “I don’t want to talk about Effie Trinket.”

“We need to talk about her. You were crying and calling out her name.”

“Calla, don’t tell me you’re jealous.

Calla shook her head. “You call for a lot of women in your sleep. “Your mother, Maysilee, Your old girlfriend Shanna……sometimes even Katniss but….you don’t cry. You were crying and calling for Effie. Were you in love with her?

“Of course not. She was just a party girl and….”

Calla frowned. “Don’t talk about her like that. The woman you love deserves more respect.

“I didn’t love Effie.

“The only man I ever cried over was my husband.”

“Well you weren’t in the arena. It messes with your mind Calla. If I was crying it was probably because a mutt version of Effie was trying to tear me apart.

Calla sat on the bed. “Do you know how she died?

“Calla, go back to the guest room.

“I heard on television it was “appendicitis” but…..they can save people in the Capitol with surgery. 

“I don’t know the gory details but it’s my fault she’s dead. 

“Haymitch, Snow did it not you.

“You’re wrong about that. If I had fired her years ago she’d be alive.

“Why would you fire her?

“I fired every Escort after my first retired. They never stayed more than a year. Some I screwed. Some screwed me. Some I hated, but Effie was the only one who……I let return. 

“Why? What was different about her?

Haymitch looked at the floor. “It’s embarrassing.”

Calla gently stroked his hair. “Tell me.”

“She was eleven years old when I won. She started working for me when she was twenty-five but she still had that look.

“What look?

“She had a crush on me…..on him.

“Him?

“Sixteen year old Haymitch Abernathy. She had a crush on him and even though he’d been buried under years of liquor….she could still see him.

“I think it was more than a crush.”

Haymitch shrugged. “Maybe. She bet on me.”

Calla was confused. “What do you mean? 

“When she was a kid. She bet a hundred dollars on me to win.

Calla was horrified and it showed on her face.

“Yeah, it’s as bad as it sounds. Kids bet their allowance. She was technically too young, you had to be twelve and her father didn’t want to place the bet for her. “You’re too young Euphemia if you’re going to make a stupid bet. He did it to teach her a lesson. When I made it to the final eight her mother donated a hundred dollars to the General Sponsor Fund for 12.

“What does that mean?

“If a donation is under a thousand dollars it goes into the General Fund. If the tribute becomes a Victor everyone who contributed gets a personalized thank you note from the Victor. She showed it to me when…..Katniss and Peeta won. She wanted me to make sure they wrote their thank you notes promptly because it meant so much to the donors. 

“I thought there was a sponsor banquet in the Capitol.

The big sponsors come to a banquet. I had a few of them but when people who can’t afford it bet on you…it means something. Haymitch’s eyes watered. “I wrote some notes to people in 12 but the only one for the Capitol was Euphemia Trinket Not too many people believed in me. 

“When did the crush become more? Calla asked.

“She was a very “proper” lady. We didn’t start “dating” until her third year and then by the 70th Games she didn’t date anyone during the “off season.” Haymitch reached for his liquor. “One time….we were afraid she was pregnant.”

Calla’s eyes widened. “What would you have done?

“I wanted to get rid of it. She didn’t, fortunately it was a false alarm.

“As a Victor couldn’t you have married her?

“Yeah. I could have moved her here…to 12 where we could count the years until our child was reaped. I told her that……any kid I had would be reaped, no doubt about it. If she had the baby and didn’t list me as the father it would be a Capitol citizen but she’d have to quit her job on a morality clause. Then I’d never see her again.

“That’s awful.”

“Well, I’ll never see her again anyway because I got her killed.

“Haymitch, stop that.

“I was dreaming that Snow shaved her head before he had her cut up. Hundreds of small cuts that would take hours to bleed out in a room of wall to wall mirrors so she had to watch herself die.

Calla threw her arms around him.

“Not knowing how she died makes my brain very creative.” He said quietly. “Sometimes I dream that it wasn’t really a false alarm in 72 and she gave the baby up for adoption and she told Snow that information under torture.

Calla shook her head. “Effie wouldn’t want this for you.”

“Effie didn’t want me to be a drunk. She usually didn’t get what she wanted when it came to me.

Calla smiled. “I don’t want you to be a drunk either but….I understand and I’m sure Effie did as well.

“We shouldn’t be talking about other women. You can talk about your husband but we’re supposed to be in love.

“Haymitch, you can’t act like you’re in love with me if you aren’t honest with yourself. You have to grieve over Effie.

“I have grieved.”

“No. You’ve suffered. Now that you’ve confided in someone….someone that understands maybe it will get better. She stood up. “I’m going back to my room.

He hesitated. “Would you stay with me? I don’t mean sleep with me but….stay a few minutes until I fall asleep?

“Of course I will.


End file.
